In the end the two destroyer escorts were decimated and what was left of their crews surrendered. The last transport was taken in tact, its ship mistress wisely surrendered without a fight.
It was a stunning victory but now they all faced a big question - Now What?
There were still Karduan ground troops in the colony and their leader was not about to surrender. The colonists had retreated into their mines and the stand off was still going on when the grav-tanks arrived.
Lt. Stanton had convinced Lt. Collins, who then had to convince Captain Hope, to allow five of his M-45 grav-tanks to do an orbital drop. From a low orbit they would drop to the planet’s surface. Fighters would act as cover as they’d then moved in together on the Karduan positions.
The Karduan ground commander was still trying to contact her ships in orbit when the sight of the tanks and fighters came over the horizon. The tanks of the Iron Brigade easily overwhelmed her lightly armed ground troops forcing them to surrender. The miners that had been captured were released and everyone in the colony was happy to see Confederation tanks and fighters. The leader of the miners and the local representative of the Galactic Trading Corporation were brought up to the ship to meet with Captain Hope.
Chen Wu, was old perhaps too old to work in the mines. His people though had wisely chosen him as their leader long ago. He had proven to be wise and calm with his dealing with the “Company Men.” When the Karduan’s came the first time they only spoke with the GTC men. He as a lowly worker had no place in such discussions. The company men made a deal and life went on as normal with the workers working and the company men counting their profits while they figured out how to make or steal more. There was no love lost between the workers and company men. When the Blue Faces came back a second time they grabbed the company men and ordered the workers to surrender and leave this their rocky home.
Many had no choice as they were unarmed but others fought back or hid within the mines forcing them to try and force them out. All was thought lost when the sight of tanks arrived at the Blue Faces’ command post only to find out that the fearsome tanks were from Earth and the Confederation. The people were overjoyed and again wondered what would happen to them?
Standing beside Chen Wu was a much younger man in his early forties. He was wearing a custom made syntho three-piece black business suit and looked every inch of the administrator he was. Mr. Mark Felix Urban Walton, often called Mark F.U. Walton by the miners, looked nervous as he stood outside the captain’s day room on the Star Wolf. The ship was an impressive attack cruiser and it seemed that all of the Karduans who had been their former captors had been asking what they knew about this mysterious warship since they first arrived. He also had a real hatred for the Confederation navy finding it hard to carry out the GTC business interests with the watch dog of the emperor ever so diligent. The war with the Karduans had been a secret blessing until the Blues broke their treaty with them.
“The Captain will see you now,” a man dressed in a plain navy coat without insignia or rank said showing them into the office.
The captain’s steward motioned with his arm and directed them over to the wooden desk with Hope siting behind it.
The ancient officer stifled a yawn with his hand and leaned back as his chair groaned. Standing up he extended his hand to Wu and then to Walton.
“Please sit,” he said with a wave of his beefy hand as Mr. Lucas brought them each a drink.
“Captain, I want to ask you what are you planning to do with us?” Mr. Walton said taking his drink and accidentally spilling some of it on the floor as his hand shook a little.
Captain Hope sat back and frowned at him.
“Mr. Walton, I don’t have any plans as of yet. That is why you are here to help determine what should be done with the settlement.”
“What is Mr. Wu doing here? He has no official standing with the GTC except as a common worker,” the sweaty bureaucrat demanded.
The Hawk stared at him in silence as his eyes narrowed in dislike.
“Mr. Wu is here as the representative of those workers and as my guest,” the task force commander said.
“This is very irregular,” Mark Walton mumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a white handkerchief.
Chen Wu nodded his head slowly in respect to Hope.
“What do you suggest we do?” he asked.
“I think that’s up to you,” Hope replied and added, “We do have a Karduan transport ship with enough supplies to have your people come along with us or if you want try to get back to a Confederation base.”
“That would be suicide either way!” Walton cried, shaking his head as he spilled more of his drink on the carpeted floor.
Hope ignore the administrator and focused on the ancient Chinese elder.
“What would you and your people like to do?”
“We’d like to stay and continue to work the mines,” he said.
“Yes, that would be best for everyone involved,” Mark F.U. Walton chimed in, all smiles at the wise decision of the old worker.
The captain shook his head and frowned.
“The Karduans will come back, especially after we destroyed the ships that were sent here to take you away,” he informed.
“But they may believe that we have fled with you or were destroyed onboard the Blue faces’ prison ships. My people can move into the mines. We have supplies to last over a year and long ago we made underground gardens to supplement the limited food given to us by the GTC. We can wait out any enemy and it will appear that the colony is abandoned.”
Hope now nodded liking this leader of his people.
“We can give you some small arms in case they try to come in and get you,” he offered.
“Thank you,” Wu said and started to stand up to bow in respect.
“Hold on now!” Walton cried jumping to his feet spilling the last of his drink. “Under the GTC charter no workers are allowed to be armed.”
“Well, I don’t see how you are going to stop me from giving them arms or the miners from accepting them,” Captain Hope stated tired of this whinny little man.
Walton ignored the old ship captain and focused his arguments on Wu. He rapidly pointed out to that any violation of their contract would result in the forfeiture of their wages and any shares in the company.
As the administrator of the colony was trying to intimidate the leader of the miners into compliance, Commander Richards came into the office. He quickly moved over to Captain Hope’s side, handed him a computer data crystal and whispered in his ear.
“Mr. Walton, I and the other miners are staying here of our own free will and we will accept the Captain’s generous offer of arms,” the elder miner stated.
“WE will see about that!” Walton announced quickly standing up. He couldn’t wait to get down to the surface and bully the more timid of the miners into compliance.
“Hold on Mr. Walton, no one said that you are leaving,” Commander Richards said in a strong and authoritative voice.
“What do you mean? I’m a representative of the Galactic Trading Company!”
“And are you the same Mark Walton of the GTC who signed the Treaty of Neutrality and Alliance with the Karduans?” the first officer asked smiling from ear to ear.
“Yes, but that was under duress,” he said making it sound like a whine.
“That will be for a Confederation court to decide,” Hope commented while looking down at the file on his computer’s screen. Martin Daily had found the record of the treaty on both the Karduan transport’s computer and on the administrator’s own palm pad. Both copies had his signature and his electronic ID code.
“Mr. Mark Walton, you are hereby charged with treason to the Confederation and with aiding the enemy in time of war,” Richards said as he grabbed the sniveling man by the arm and escorted him to the door where two guards were waiting for him. “By the way both crimes are punishable by death.”
As they took him into the hallway the bu
reaucrat broke down into open sobbing and crying that sounding very much like that of a little child.
“Will he really be put to death?” Wu Chen asked with a slight smile at the thought of the evil little man getting his just deserts.
Sir Randolph Hope shrugged as his ancient face broke into a slight smile.
“Who knows? That is for an Imperial court to decide,” he said and leaned forward, “We have the treaty and that is more than enough evidence to hold him on. We aren’t going to be back to a Confederation base for many months if not longer, so he will be locked up and out of your way for some time.”
Wu Chen, the elder and respected leader of the miners of Nazhen grinned, stood up and bowed most grateful for this unexpected blessing.
Chapter Seven
Leaving Nazhen, Task Force Trident departed with mixed feelings. On one hand the people chose to stay, hide and fight. While on the other hand they could be leaving the miners to their deaths or Karduan slavery. Small arms collected from pirates and others sites were given to the miners with no real loss to the task force.
Both of the crippled destroyer escorts were nudged out of orbit to crash onto the planet’s surface. That left only the Karduan transport and the GTC systems cutters. The system defense cutters were left where they were. Lifeless and without power showing any Karduan visitor that the colony had been attacked and beaten.
The last transport had been taken in tact and now became the home for all of the prisoners that the task force had taken to date. The ship was already equipped with holding bays that had been set up for the miners. Now they housed both Karduans, pirates and one unhappy administrator, though the humans and Blues were kept in different bays.
Captain Hope ironically named the transport the ITS Liberty. Some thought that was it was a joke as it was at least in part a prison ship. Mike shook his head and smiled. He knew that in World War II Liberty ships were the early transport ships that had brought desperately needed war materials to a war torn England.
The bad news was that they used their last prize crew to man her and that she wasn’t as fast or had as great of a bend distance as the rest of their ships. She was also as large as the Randori which would make it very hard to extend a bender field over her and tow her through a longer bend.
The Hawk seemed unmoved by any suggestions of leaving the transport ship behind. Many people theorized that he would discard the ship later when they got further away from Nazhen or when they reached a more desolate system. Some who thought that then wondered what they were going to do with so many prisoners if they abandoned the Liberty?
To know the Captain was to know war - Mike thought. That’s why he tried to read every book the old man mentioned or study every battle he referenced. If you wanted a career like his, you had to know what he knew. For that reason, the young captain of Randori sat back in his command chair and trusted in the vast experience of the Hawk.
Once more their task force pressed on but again kept from moving in the direct everyone thought they’d be going into -- Karduan space. Arguably, it wasn’t really Blue space but was the old border that controlled the bender points into Karduan territory proper. Still, many wondered what they were up to?
The next bend took them to an uninhabited system that was also without any signs of ships, enemy or anything otherwise. They refueled even though many of their ships could do multiple bends without needing to refuel at every stop.
Sitting in his office, Mike waited until 1400 hours and linked into the command channel. There he saw the numerous faces of the ship captains of their task force. Unlike when they had first started, back when they had but three faces to look at, now there were six people looking back at him. As always Hope was the one face that mattered.
“We now have a major decision to make,” Sir Randolph stated as the task force’s leader watched and waited. “I mean to make a bend to a world called Blue Rock, which is a small Class D moon. It is literally a frozen encrusted rock but it is also a Templar outpost.”
Many of the other captains grumbled for moment and then quickly got quiet.
“There are several problems that we may have to face to get there. The first is that from our current location only half of our ships could make such a long bend. We could bend there in two more bends from other systems getting there by an alternate route but I’m almost sure that we would run into enemy forces guarding one, if not both of these points,” he explained his face remaining stoic and unsmiling.
“So sir, we either go the alternate route and risk enemy action or leave half of our ships here to wait for our return?” Collins clarified, wanting to get a clear picture for his fellow captains.
“Yes, these are our choices,” he replied looking to Mike’s image on his viewer.
“How long would those ships be gone?” Cmdr. Hutton inquired from the Cody.
Hope shrugged, “There is no telling as we don’t know what’s on the other side of the bend.”
“What about sending the Randori and the Cody,” Lt. John Card, who was commanding the ISS New Orleans asked.
“They could both make the bend but they may find themselves outgunned by Karduans and or by the Templars,” Hutton reasoned adding, “Especially if the Templars are the same as I remember them. They usually shoot first and pray for your souls later.”
Most of the officers of the Task Force didn’t know but the former midshipmen of Harpers Academy knew that their Master of the Sword wasn’t just, an Inter-Galactic Olympian or as a navy commando. They knew that he was also a Knight of the Order of St. Michael. He rarely used his title or even bragged about his former life but some of his former students had discovered his religious and para-military background.
Captain Sir Randolph Hawkins Hope, had earned his title in battle, winning the Imperial Order of the Knight’s Sword. It was the second highest award in the Confederation and he had even been knighted by the emperor himself.
Commander Sir Alfred Hutton on the other hand had spent many years of his orphaned youth, long prior to the war or his naval service, training as a knight of St. Michael’s Order. The Michaelites were mostly a Protestant order though they did accept anyone whose religion recognized St. Michael as the Archangel of God. That belief included Christian, Jewish and Muslim members of the order. They also didn’t always get along or usually cooperate with the all Catholic Order of Knights Templars.
“So gentlemen, we are going to Blue Rock but the question is how do we get there?” Hope proposed as the officers of the captains call got quiet.
Debate started amongst the officers yet Mike remained silent as he watched Hope who was examining the officers and listening to their arguments. To him the old hero had already made his decision. Here and now he was again just teaching another lesson to his junior officers as he analyzed their ability to lead and reason. Collins also noticed that Commander Hutton would occasionally stir the pot, getting the debate going again. He wondered if the Master of the Sword was operating under the captain’s orders to force the other officers into debate.
“Mr. Collins, you have been unusually quiet,” Commander Hutton remarked trying to draw him into the debate.
“Just taking in all sides of the argument,” he replied.
Lt. Card of the New Orleans wanted to go but was also wiling to stay behind and wait. The Lt. Commander of the Liberty wanted to go along or leave his ship behind. Mike got the feeling that the Lt. Commander wasn’t very happy commanding a transport ship and probably was hoping for a better vessel. Lt. Peters of the Spider stated that his ship goes where the Wolf does and left it at that. The commanding officer of the Anarchy didn’t seem to care as long as they were heading to a fight. He liked the modified destroyer escort as it had several heavier guns than a frigate and its maneuver engines were slightly faster than a normal Karduan destroyer escort or even a Confederation frigate.
“So what do you think Mr. Collins?” Captain Hope finally asked.
“Mass - if we split up we loss the abil
ity to mass our forces. If we do run into a large enemy force, we would at least stand a chance together. We’re not abandoning three of our ships, we just can’t do that due to the fact that the Liberty has so many prisoners. If the Star Wolf goes on alone or if we send the Randori with the Cody than we either weaken the force staying back or jeopardize the force bending ahead,” Mike said having thought it out as the others were debating what was good for their own ships while he was thinking what was good for the task force.
Hutton smiled as Hope nodded. They were his two former school teachers that were now once more proud of their one-time student.
“If we do split up, we’d still have to rendezvous to make the trip back or to proceed ahead. This would be a waste of time with an enemy squadron on our trail,” the Captain added, “So we will stick together and face any Karduan forces between us and Blue Rock.”
Mike smiled and nodded thinking that the old man had planned it that way all along. The Center of Gravity as it was called by Carl von Clausewitz was that which would lead your forces to victory – in this case, keep your forces together on mission, remaining both supported and strong.
“All ship captains, you have three hours to prepare for a bend at battle stations - danger imminent,” he instructed. “Coordinate your needs and your ship status with Commander Richards.”
“Aye sir,” they all replied.
“Commander Hutton, when the squadron is ready I want you to take the Cody and scout the next system. In and out, no sight seeing just a quick peek. If you’re not back in a few minutes we’ll come through guns hot,” the Hawk ordered.
“Yes sir,” the onetime Master of the Sword responded.
“Get to it people,” Hope said and ended his transmission.
Preparing for a bend was stressful, preparing for a bend with the possibility of a life and death battle on the other side was worse. That was the life of a star mariner. Long hours of travelling in-system was broken up with the hectic rush of bending and the ever possibility of hostilities. Mike always thought that this must have been what it was like in the old blue water navy. Boring weeks and months at sea only to end up fighting a desperate battle off some lonely island or atoll thousands of miles from your home and family.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 21